The Haunted Planet
by D4rkHuntress
Summary: During their quest to find and rescue Zordon the rangers learn of the well-known story of a haunted planet. Is this story simply a myth? Or could the rangers soon find themselves in the midst of something far more than they were bargaining for?


**The Haunted Planet **

"Look at this," Carlos Valerte said after nudging his ranger teammate, TJ Johnson. Carlos lifted the book he had grabbed from one of many street shops that were set up along the sandy desert city of Kellas and preceded to read from the backing. "The warrior Psychlosis fell in love with his arch enemy, Gallatra. When Gallatra wouldn't have him and when he refused to fight her she cursed the warrior and destroyed his army and the people of his planet. When a group of young explorers land on the desolate planet years later they discover they aren't quite as alone there as they think."

"A haunted planet," TJ said and shook his head while grabbing the book from out of Carlos's hands. "And I thought Earth had some strange literature."

The rangers had come to the desert planet to search for evidence they believed they might find in this marketplace on their captured leader, Zordon. Carlos was surprised by how much this distant planet seemed like Earth, but then again a lot of planets were surprising in that way while others couldn't be more different.

"It's not just literature, young man," an elderly crippled man spoke from the side of the street shop. "That story is based off of the truth."

Carlos and TJ exchanged skeptical looks.

"Oh, yes," the old man rasped. "It's true. Those poor souls were never the same after leaving the planet. Oh, the things they witnessed in their time there. Truly sad it was, but more sad is what the people who lived on the planet had to endure in their last hours."

"I'm sure it was," Carlos said as politely as he could. He turned to TJ then spoke again, "We'd better catch up with the others."

"Yeah," TJ replied and placed the book back down on the market table. The blue ranger gave a curt nod to the old man before walking away and gave him a quick, "thanks."

"Be careful, young travelers," the old man spoke as the two rangers walked away from him.

"That was a little creepy," Carlos commented just as he and TJ were meeting up with the rest of their ranger team.

"What was creepy?" Cassie Chan questioned.

"Some old man just tried to convince us of the existence of a haunted planet that was spoken of in a book we just came across," TJ answered.

"Yeah, and while I don't know about the planet that guy was creepy enough to make my skin crawl," Carlos added.

"Any luck?" TJ questioned the other group of rangers.

"None," Andros answered.

* * *

"So is there really a haunted planet out here?" Ashley Hammond inquired when the rangers had returned to the Astromegaship.

"It's just a folk tale," Zhane responded quickly.

"Some believe that it's true," Andros added with a shrug.

"But come on," Zhane started to say and began humorously acting out a scene. "I'm the warrior Psychlosis, I was cursed by the one I loved and now you will die for landing on my planet." Zhane stopped acting and smiled at the rest of his team. "It's just a story to scare kids."

Andros shrugged once again as if he disagreed with the silver ranger, but didn't say anything.

"I didn't know you believed in that stuff," Zhane spoke to Andros.

"I'm not saying that I do," Andros replied. "But I've also seen stranger things, we all have for that matter."

"I know I'll never not believe in vampires again that's for sure," Carlos said as a shiver went down his spine at the memory of being bitten by and turned into a vampire only about a year earlier.

"I still don't buy it," Zhane said with a shrug. "All we've seen is stuff that happened because of one of Darkspecter's goons."

"Whatever the case," Carlos started to say, "I'm calling it a night guys."

"Same here," Ashley said breathlessly. "Between math exams and walking a desert marketplace I'm beat."

* * *

The location around Zhane was a muddy swampland. Tree branches swayed slightly in the uncommonly warm breeze. A large moon lit the world around Zhane to a point that it was almost like being on a planet during its daylight hours. When Zhane tried to name his location found that he couldn't, he couldn't even remember how he got here.

The warm breeze began to turn cold and Zhane thought he heard a voice coming from a distance away. The sound was little more than a groan at first but it began to grow closer and louder. Adrenaline began racing through Zhane's veins. He reached for the ranger morpher that he discovered he didn't have with him. The voice grew louder and began to surround the silver ranger and just when he thought his heart was going to pound out of his chest he heard a scream. The voice behind the scream rippled through Zhane and nearly made his heart stop completely.

"Astronema!" Zhane yelled as he sat bolt upright. After catching his breath again he realized that he was in his room on board the Astromegaship. The event had been a dream all along. Zhane began to relax and lean back until his head hit his pillow. After a moment of just lying and staring at the ceiling of his bunker Zhane turned over and lifted his pillow to pull out the picture he still held onto of the princess of evil.

Zhane had only recently discovered that Astronema was really Andros's long lost sister, Karone. It had only been about a week ago that she had been captured and brainwashed by Darkspecter. Zhane had longed to reconcile with Astronema since the last time he had seen her before leaving the rangers to provide help to the rebels, but he had missed his chance to speak with Karone when she was among the rangers. He wished he could have had that chance and couldn't help but wonder what could have happened had he returned to help the rangers only a day earlier than he had.

Zhane sighed as he looked at the blonde haired woman in the picture he held. Astronema was beautiful in her own right, even as the machine that Dark Specter had turned her into Zhane could see her beauty. He knew there was good in Astronema before she was brainwashed and now he just hoped that good was not driven from her completely.

* * *

"Well, it's about time," Cassie spoke when Zhane managed to stumble into the workbay where the rest of his team was already assembled and were already eating their breakfast.

"Hey, guys," mumbled Zhane as he sat down at the table with his friends.

"You okay, Zhane?" Ashley questioned after placing a hand on Zhane's shoulder.

"Yeah," Zhane answered wearily. "I just didn't get a lot of sleep, that's all."

"Nightmare's of haunted planets?" Carlos sounded like he was holding back a laugh and Zhane felt the eyes of his teammates on him.

"I don't believe in any haunted planets," Zhane insisted as he grabbed a biscuit off of a tray that sat in the middle of the dining table. Zhane's mind instantly drew up the dream that had tainted his sleep during the night hours. He knew the location of the dream could only of been made up because of the rangers speaking about such a place just a few hours before the dream occurred. He didn't believe in such things existing and he wasn't giving into the rangers trying to convince him otherwise.

"I wish I had picked that book up just to see what it was about now." Carlos commented.

"Maybe we should look for the planet," Cassie spoke mischievously. "You know, just to prove Zhane is right. He can even be the first one to explore it."

"Very funny," Zhane spoke humorlessly.

"Lighten up, Zhane," Carlos spoke. "We're just having fun."

It wasn't like Zhane to take things personally, perhaps it was the lack of sleep or perhaps he was just irritated with the topic, either way it wasn't called for. "I'm sorry, guys."

"It's okay, Zhane," Ashley said smoothly. "It's been a rough couple of days for all of us." Even as the yellow ranger spoke her eyes flickered over to the red ranger. Instantly Zhane felt like he was being completely selfish in how he was feeling. Zhane knew that Karone being captured by Darkspecter was like having a nearly healed wound ripped back open for Andros. The memories and feelings from the past when Darkonda had kidnapped Karone had flooded back with the added pain of knowing what Darkspecter had done to Karone this time to make her Astronema once again.

"Rangers!" Alpha's voice interrupted the long bout of silence that had descended upon the rangers. "I think there is something on the bridge you should check out."

"Did you find something on Zordon?" Andros questioned the robot when the teenagers had reached the bridge of the Astromegaship.

"I don't know what to make of all of this," Alpha answered sounding flustered. "A moment ago we received a hail, but when I opened the channel whoever was sending it cut the connection." Alpha paused for a second before continuing. "But it doesn't stop there. When I traced the origins of the transmission our scanners are saying it is coming from this planet."

Andros leaned in closer to the console Alpha was standing at. "I don't recognize that planet."

"We passed by it during the night," Alpha informed while tapping his mechanical fingers across the console to draw up a different map. The Astromegaship was still on its return trip to Earth, Zhane wasn't sure where they were but he was sure that they were still a good distance from Earth. "This is what was recorded."

"That energy reading is almost off the charts," Andros spoke evenly. "Do you think it could be Zordon?"

"The signal is very distorted, but there is definitely a possibility that the energy signature could be Zordon," Alpha answered.

"It would be a perfect location too," Carlos pointed out. "This place is so isolated from any populated planets it would be very rare that someone would be out here."

"Looks like it might be our lucky day," TJ agreed before asking Alpha, "What are the conditions of the planet?"

"It's inhabitable, but from the little bit of reading I can get of the planet it appears to be made up of mostly swampland," Alpha answered. The robot pulled up a fuzzy image of a scene on the planet's surface on the main view screen. Zhane felt his heart skip a beat. The bayou depicted on the view screen before the silver ranger looked much like the dark forest of his dream the night before, only this forest was lit by a direct natural light.

"Zhane," a voice called from behind the silver ranger to grab his attention. Zhane turned to see that the rest of his teammates were already heading out of the bridge of the Astromegaship. TJ questioned the silver ranger, "You coming?"

"Uh, yeah, right behind you," Zhane said and started following his teammates to the workbay where the rangers would morph and mount their Galaxy Gliders.

* * *

"If Zordon is here it's going to be very difficult to get to him," Ashley pointed out when the rangers had dismounted from their Galaxy Gliders and demorphed. Due to the density of the trees in the area it would be difficult for the rangers to ride their Gliders in their search for their lost leader on this planet. They also needed to be close to the planet in order to get a reading with their hand held energy sensors.

"All the more reason Darkspecter would have him brought here," Andros pointed out while holding a sensor device up to apparently try to get a better reading.

"Not to mention this place keeps making the energy signatures jump all over the place," TJ pointed out while he fiddled with a matching device to the one the red ranger held.

"We'd better start moving," Zhane suggested. "It doesn't look like we have a lot of light left in the day here."

"Yeah, and this place already gives me the creeps even in the daylight," Carlos pointed out. Another chill went down Zhane's back as he looked around him. Again the place reminded him of his dream. The place was dreary, with gray and light gray moss covered everything and something similar hung and swayed from the trees.

"Or maybe you just found your haunted planet," Zhane joked before walking ahead of his teammates. Much of the ground around the rangers was too wet and unstable to walk on, so it was best of someone took the lead role of walking through the land ahead of those who were watching the energy readings.

"It might not be _the_ haunted planet," Carlos spoke sounding like the comment was an absent thought. "But this place certainly has potential of being _a_ haunted planet."

"Yeah, except for the fact it doesn't look like anyone has ever lived here," Cassie pointed out. Zhane was glad one of his teammates was finally speaking with some sense.

A couple of hours flew by as the rangers continued their search. The readings they were receiving were consistent to a point, but they were hard to track. The rangers guessed that it was because of the planet's moisture messing with the equipments' readings. The rangers were growing tired by the time the sun started to set.

"I don't know about this anymore, guys," Carlos spoke pessimistically. "We just don't seem to be getting anywhere with this and we don't even know if we are tracking down Zordon or if we are on a wild goose chase."

"If it is Zordon we can't just give up," Cassie reminded. Zhane knew the pink ranger was right, but he was feeling the same way as Carlos. In fact Zhane was starting to feel utterly opposed to continuing the journey through the swamplands. Each step he took was like a chore both mentally and physically. The mud that had become caped on his boots certainly was not helping anything.

"Did you hear that?" Carlos asked suddenly. Zhane turned to see Carlos jolting his hand held flashlight about in the same basic direction. When no one answered Carlos the black ranger continued, "It sounded like a muffled voice or something."

"I didn't hear anything," Ashley commented.

"I think you are hearing things," TJ said and patted Carlos on the back. The blue ranger held his device up toward the direction Carlos was facing. "I'm not seeing anything from over there."

"We'd better keep moving, we still have a lot of ground to cover," Andros urged his team on. Zhane was about to do as the red ranger had suggested, but when he took his first step his foot sank instantly into the ground by about a foot. Zhane cried out first from the unexpected fall he took and then slightly from the pain in his leg.

"Zhane, are you all right?" Ashley was the closest person to the silver ranger and had just reached him as he was struggling to get his foot out of the mud it had sunk into.

"I'm fine," Zhane muttered.

"Here, let me help you," Ashley spoke. When the yellow ranger's hand gripped Zhane's left arm an unspeakable amount of anger and frustration grew within him and he lashed out at her.

"I said I'm fine!" Zhane said while moving his arm to shove the yellow ranger away from him.

"Zhane!" Andros spoke the name sternly, but there was a clear level of shock to the red ranger's voice. Instantly the anger Zhane had felt fled from him and he himself was shocked by what he had done.

"Ashley, I," Zhane started to say as he removed his leg from the mud. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I just did that."

Zhane assisted Andros in helping Ashley back to her feet. "It's okay, Zhane. I'm sorry too."

"I think we'd better split up," TJ spoke, changing the subject. "We'll cover more ground that way and maybe we can get off this planet quicker."

"Sounds good to me," Carlos chimed in.

"Zhane and I will take the north-

"No," Andros interrupted the blue ranger. "You and Cassie take the north, Ashley and Carlos can take the west. Zhane is with me."

The rangers appeared to exchange looks of uncertainty, but when Andros began to trek his journey to the east the others began to follow the paths they were given. With a shrug Zhane began to follow his long time friend and teammate.

"What's going on, Zhane?" Andros finally questioned after the two had traveled a distance in silence, perhaps the red ranger didn't want the conversation to be heard by the other rangers.

"Nothing," Zhane answered truthfully.

"Shoving Ashley when she was only trying to help you isn't nothing," Andros said while he stopped dead in his tracks to turn and face the silver ranger. Zhane couldn't help but roll his eyes he knew what this was coming to.

"Look, I said I was sorry," Zhane said while throwing his arms out from his sides. "I don't know what happened. Let's just keep moving."

"You haven't been acting right since this morning," Andros pointed out, but he followed Zhane's lead and continued to walk.

"So I didn't get a lot of sleep last night," Zhane started to become irritated and impatient with the red ranger. Andros was a good friend, but sometimes he could become overly controlling. Perhaps being the red ranger went to his head sometimes, Zhane didn't know but the more he thought about it the more it annoyed him.

Some sort of bird-like creature flew past the pair while letting out a series of squawks and squeals making both rangers jump and temporarily halting their progress through the woods.

"I'm just trying to help, Zhane," Andros finally said a few seconds after the bird had flown by and the rangers had continued on their way.

"I don't need your help," Zhane returned and now it was his turn to stop walking and he turned towards the red ranger. "In fact I don't need you to tell me what I can and cannot do either."

"What?" Andros asked as if he were clueless as to what Zhane was talking about.

"I know you disapprove of me dating your sister, but frankly I don't care," Zhane said while stepping closer to Andros and leveling his hand held light at the red ranger's face making him squint away from it. "You just seem to think that you can say the word and the world is suppose to conform to your wishes. Believe it or not, Andros, things don't happen that way. And here's another news flash for you, you're not the only one that's been affected by this war. I'm starting to believe that it would have been better if I hadn't taken the blow for you two years ago, maybe this stupid war would have been over by now."

With those words off of his chest Zhane threw his hand held flashlight down at his teammate's feet and began to continue his journey to the east with a brisk step.

"Zhane," Andros started to say and before he spoke again Zhane heard the red ranger's footsteps falling behind him. "Zhane! Where are you going?"

"To find Zordon," Zhane affirmed over his shoulder before taking off in a dead run into the darkness. It wouldn't be so dark out once his eyes adjusted to the pale light that was reflecting off of the planet's lone satellite.

* * *

"Zhane!" Andros yelled and ran after his teammate. He did his best to keep up with the silver ranger, but it was impossible with the mucky marshland. Taking a deep breath he tried one more time to call his teammate, "Zhane!"

Andros slowed his paced when the silver ranger had completely vanished from his sight. If Andros weren't so confused and irritated he probably would have been intimidated by the world around him and the fact that he was alone.

With a frustrated sigh Andros lifted his left arm to activate his communicator. "Guys, I just lost contact with Zhane."

"Were you guys attack?" Cassie's voice questioned while sounding concerned.

"No," Andros answered. "But there is definitely something not right about Zhane and I would have to say the same about this planet. I'm going to keep looking for Zhane."

Andros didn't know what he would do when he found Zhane, but he couldn't leave his friend behind. The rangers had no clue what dangers this planet could hold, but Andros did know no one should be left on their own here. And now that he had calmed down a bit Andros started to take in the factor that he was alone out in the marshlands. He could hear rustling all around him, but he tried to pass the noises off as the local wildlife. Paranoia was unavoidable though.

As he traveled on toward the east Andros thought he heard a voice or possibly a moan from behind him. He spun around and used his flashlight to illuminate the area, but he saw nothing.

"Zhane?" Andros asked. He jerked his flashlight around a few more times until he was satisfied that he was indeed alone. Carlos was right about this place being creepy, and now that the sun had set it was worse. Unlike the other rangers Andros knew the story of the haunted planet, if this place didn't meet the description of the planet depicted in that book he didn't know what planet would. The fact that Zhane was acting so strangely was only confirming Andros's suspicions.

It took Andros some time to find the tracks of his friend again, but when he did he continued on. The only thing that kept the red ranger on the trail of his friend was the fear that Zhane could be in a lot more trouble than the rangers had bargained for when they had arrived on the planet. Andros froze in place when a shrilled scream soared past him from behind.

"Ashley!" Andros yelled when he recognized the voice. He turned and began running the best he could over the slippery ground in the direction the scream had come from. Andros would have to give up on his search for Zhane for now, because for all he knew the rest of his team was in trouble and not just Ashley.

* * *

"Astronema," Ecliptor spoke from behind the named Princess of Evil as she stared out the main screen of her Dark Fortress. "I've located the rangers in a distant system."

"Which system?" Astronema questioned a bit impatiently.

"The Gallivant system," Ecliptor answered.

"The Gallivant system," Astronema repeated in a low tone almost expecting that to help give meaning to the question she would ask next. "What do the rangers expect to gain from there?"

"Perhaps they believe the seclusion of the system makes it the perfect hiding place for their leader," Ecliptor answered.

"Of course," Astronema spoke absently as she instantly began going over ideas in her mind. The Gallivant system was, as Ecliptor had said, secluded in the fact that it had not been inhabited for centuries. A few stray wanderers passed through the Gallivant system from other planetary systems, but Gallivant was such an unwelcoming place that no one ever bothered to stick around it long enough to settle it. Perhaps attacking the rangers while they were in the system would be a good course of action.

"Would you like me to set a course?" Ecliptor asked.

"Yes," Astronema answered firmly. "The rangers won't be finding their leader, but they would have to have been expecting a fight. We shouldn't allow them to be too disappointed."

* * *

Zhane continued to make his way through the dark forest, but he had slowed his pace since he had left his teammate and best friend behind. His thoughts became reflective. Zhane hadn't meant to go off on his friend like he had. He didn't even understand why he had lost his temper. Perhaps it was from the lack of sleep from the previous night. That was the most likely answer, after all he hadn't even been aware of what he was doing or saying until it was all over.

Suddenly Zhane began feeling vulnerable. He was completely alone. He no longer had anyone to watch his back. He quietly laughed at himself for his paranoia. The only life forms that had appeared in the scan on the planet from the Astromegaship earlier were that of wild life. Still, the scans hadn't shown a definite sign of Zordon due to interference either, but the speculation that he was here was the whole reason the rangers were on the planet in the first place. Zhane began to slow his pace even more as a chill started going down his spine. He felt like he was being watched. Finally he stopped in his tracks completely.

"Silver ranger," it was a faint whisper and sounded feminine.

"Astronema?" Zhane nervously questioned as he looked around. He saw only wetland and trees. The only movement he saw was created from the gentle breeze that was blowing against the trees. "Hello?"

Zhane finally gave up his attempts to locate whoever had just spoken to him, but the feeling of unease from being watched began to creep back up his spine. A clicking noise sounded from behind the silver ranger causing him turn around quickly. He let out a yelp of surprise while jumping backwards. His right foot hit something and he fell quickly to the ground with a loud splat as the result of his landing on the mushy ground. Zhane looked up to see an old weathered tree trunk that was standing about his height and he knew then that that was what had startled him.

"Nice going, Zhane," the silver ranger spoke aloud to himself. He looked down to see the damages of falling into the mud. Disgusted he stood up and started trying to remove as much of the mud from him as he could while silently cursing himself for allowing his teammates' talks of a haunted planet to go to his head and raise his anxiety level.

"Oh, great," Zhane spoke when he located the tracking device he had been using after he had gained a distance between himself and his teammate. Like the silver ranger it had fallen into the mud, but it hadn't survived the fall as well and had broken into three pieces. Zhane's frustration began to escalade once again and he didn't even bother picking the device up, he would just have to continue his search with out it.

Before Zhane could take a step a he started to hear a deep moaning off in the distance. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and he began scanning the area around him frantically looking for the source of the moan.

"Okay, Carlos, that's not funny." Zhane said while putting as much firmness in his tone as he could. The moaning only grew louder and soon it turned into a malevolent sounding slow laugh. A scream came from a distance away and Zhane turned toward it. "Ashley!"

Zhane took only one step before the gentle breeze turned into a cold gust that stopped him in his tracks. He threw his arms up quickly to protect his face as something dark started to fly towards him.

* * *

"Are you guys okay?" Cassie questioned Carlos and Ashley. TJ and the pink ranger must have reached the black and yellow rangers just shortly before Andros had.

"I swear I just felt a hand grab my arm a moment ago," Ashley answered in return, fear was dominant in her voice. "But when I turned to look no one was there and it let go."

"It was probably just your imagination getting the best of you," TJ pointed out calmly. "It's a little bit creepy out here, it's bound to happen."

"And I'm telling you guys I saw something earlier," Carlos added.

"Alpha," TJ spoke into his communicator in a manner that suggested he just wanted to find a way to reassure his friends there was nothing to be worried about, but he received no response. "Alpha, come in."

"Guys, I think we're in big trouble," Andros announced. Things were definitely starting to add up and not in a good way.

"What do you mean?" Cassie questioned the red ranger.

"I mean I think we may have just landed on Psychlosis' home planet," Andros answered.

"You're being serious?" Carlos questioned. Perhaps the black ranger had truly questioned the existence of a haunted planet and had just been joking all along as he had said he was to Zhane.

"Okay, it was fun while it lasted, guys," TJ spoke up as if to speak reason into the rest of his team. "But this is serious and there is no way this planet is haunted."

Andros was about to disagree with the blue ranger when he was interrupted.

"You said you lost contact with Zhane, what happened?" TJ asked. Andros did not have time to answer before a moan began to make its way through the trees and past the rangers.

"What was that?" Ashley blurted out while turning her back to the other rangers to stare out into the darkness of the woods around them.

"Keep your eyes open, guys," Andros instructed as he too turned his back to his teammates. The rangers formed a circle in order to protect each other from being attacked from behind if something were to attack them. As they waited in silence another moan floated past them, this time it was louder and sounded closer. The moan then multiplied until it was coming from nearly every direction. Andros and his teammates kept themselves prepared for a fight, but there was no question as to the unease that was starting to rise among them.

"I'd feel a lot better if Zhane were here right now," Cassie commented. And as if on cue the moaning around the rangers stopped and in its place was a familiar voice filling the murky land with an uncharacteristic evil laughter. Cassie spoke again sounding as confused as Andros felt. "Is that?"

"Zhane!" Ashley yelled and pointed toward a slightly elevated piece of land that stood a good distance away from the rangers. Andros looked to see the silver ranger standing there in a stance that portrayed pride. The silver ranger continued to laugh. Though the man standing above the rangers appeared to be Zhane and the voice sounded like his there was nothing about his character that was Andros's best friend. His eyes were set hard and the way he held himself suggested that the silver ranger was looking for a fight with anyone who would stand in his way.

"Uh, guys," Carlos's voice came uneasily and drew the red ranger's attention back to the rangers' immediate surroundings. Shadows were dancing around them. The trees were casting some of the shadows, but many seemed to have a life and form of their own. These shadows appeared to be humanoid. As quickly as they had come the shadows instantly vanished down through the ground as if sucked in by the never-ending swampland.

Zhane's laughter came once again. Only this time it grew more sinister by the second and soon his voice deepened and became almost metallic. Andros looked up to see his friend morph into his ranger form with out so much as reaching for his morpher.

"What the," TJ started to say but let the comment trail off.

"Stand firm, guys," Andros encouraged his team. He wasn't sure what Zhane's intentions were, but Andros was getting the feeling that the rangers would be the silver ranger's targets if a fight really was what he was looking for.

The gravely moans return and with them a grotesque sucking noise rose from the ground around the rangers. Upon further examination of the land something was rising out of the ground. Arms began to emerge from the mud to grab hold of solid ground and soon full humanoid bodies with rusty armor were hefting themselves out of the ground. Still caped in with mud they had climbed out of the warrior-like beings began to make their way slowly toward the rangers.

"They must be Psychlosis's army," Andros guessed.

Ashley screamed and Andros had to quickly correct his balance when the yellow ranger's back hit him a mere second later. The red ranger turned around to see one of the humanoid creatures emerging from the ground where Ashley had been standing.

"Guys, there's too many of them!" Cassie pointed out. She had her fists up ready for a fight, but she kept switching her targets based on which one she apparently thought was the greater threat to her.

"Time to morph, guys," TJ announced.

"Let's rocket!" All of the rangers called in unison. Andros couldn't help but to feel hesitant after he had morphed. This wasn't going to be an easy battle, but it wasn't one he was not in a hurry to finish either. Andros risked looking back to where the silver ranger stood above the rest of the team his greatest fear at that moment was the possibility of having to face his best friend in battle.

"Guys," Andros spoke when he finally located Zhane walking down to the level the other rangers were located. The silver ranger was walking right past the once fallen army of Psychlosis unharmed as they were still focusing and closing in on the other ranger rangers. "Keep them busy."

Even as Andros spoke he summoned his Spiral Saber. He gripped his weapon tightly and began his attempt to force his way through the armored warriors. They were tougher than they looked. He brought his weapon around to attack one warrior, but it simply lifted an old metal-like spear to block the attack while another warrior took the opportunity to swing its sword toward the red ranger. Before the warrior's blade could reach Andros the black ranger stepped in and blocked the threatening weapon with his Lunar Lance.

"Thanks, Carlos," Andros acknowledged the help he received before spinning around to attack the now vulnerable warrior that had its weapon still locked with the black ranger's lance. The force of the blow caused the warrior to take several stumbling steps backward, which backed up many other warriors it fell into.

"Anytime," Carlos spoke in return as he proceeded to swing his Lunar Lance around to help clear a wider standing ground where the rangers were still gathered.

"I'm going after Zhane," Andros informed and tried once again to break through the crowd of the once mummified beings. He managed to wind his way through the gathered army, but when he broke free from them he was met with the blade of the silver ranger's Super Silverizer. "Zhane!" Andros yelled, as he was just able to deflect the attack from the silver ranger before it hit him. Zhane never slowed as he reversed the momentum of his deflected weapon to send it back at the red ranger. Andros blocked the attack and the two rangers' weapons locked in a standoff. "Zhane, come on, snap out of it! We need your help!"

Zhane said nothing instead he lifted his weapon and kicked out with his right foot to land a blow against the red ranger's stomach. Andros was forced to retreat several steps and his friend gave him little time to recover before swinging his Silverizer over the red ranger. Andros lifted his Saber to protect himself, but the attempt was in vain as the strength behind Zhane's attack forced the red ranger's own weapon back into him. Andros fell to the ground and grasped his chest where he had been hit, then quickly rolled away from the silver ranger as he tried to land another blow to the red ranger while he was down.

"Come on, Zhane," Andros spoke through the clinched teeth of pain. "What do you think you are gaining by this?"

The silver ranger remained silent as he approached the still kneeling red ranger. Zhane appeared to be about ready to attack when a flash of pink flew over Andros's head and a small explosion erupted shortly afterwards as Cassie's Satellite Stunner nailed a hit against the silver ranger. The attack was not powerful and it barely stunned Zhane.

"Andros," Cassie's voice came and the red ranger felt a hand grip his arm at the same time. The pink ranger pulled the red ranger to his feet and as she did so the blue and black rangers intercepted Zhane who once again seemed determined to attack his long time friend.

"Cool it, Zhane," TJ demanded when he and Carlos had grabbed the silver ranger by both of his arms. "Whatever is going on we've got bigger problems to deal with here."

"Guys!" Ashley spoke from behind Andros. The red ranger turned to see Ashley pointing to the sky. Among the stars was an all too familiar circular spacecraft with one side being made up, seemingly, of just green lines.

"Great, just when you think it can't get worse," Carlos commented. As Andros continued to look in Ashley's direction he noticed that the ancient warriors, which the rangers seemed to have defeated before assisting the red ranger, were once again gathering themselves up and were pressing their way back towards the rangers.

During the distraction Zhane managed to kick Carlos away from him and made quick work of TJ with his now freed weapon.

"Zhane!" Cassie yelled and left the red ranger's side to try to grab the silver ranger from the side. Zhane easily spun away from the girl and delivered a blow to her back that caused her to fall face first into the mud beneath her.

"Cassie!" Ashley spoke in dismay as she ignored the warriors that were beginning to surround her to help her fallen friend. "Zhane, what is your problem?"

Andros watched the scene unfold, but he was barely registering what was happening. He had to find a way to turn the tables on this fight. He still wasn't sure why Zhane was attacking the rangers, but seeing the silver ranger walk through the army of the undead unharmed was starting to give Andros a few ideas.

The red ranger made up his mind and pulled his Astro Blaster out of its holster, he wouldn't give himself a second to rethink his choice, as he knew he would hesitate and lose his advantage if he did.

"Psychlosis!" Andros yelled as he ran and jumped toward the silver ranger who was getting ready to attack Ashley and Cassie together. This finally seemed to get Zhane's attention as he turned towards the red ranger. Andros squeezed the trigger on his Astro Blaster to send a few laser shots searing in his best friend's direction. Zhane managed to block the attack, but it left him vulnerable for the red ranger's next move. While still in the air Andros withdrew his blaster and forcefully brought his Spiral Saber around to hit the silver ranger across his chest. Zhane was finally forced to retreat a few steps while Andros pressed on with his assault. After kicking the silver ranger in the stomach the red ranger once again brought his Spiral Saber around, but the silver ranger had recovered enough to lift his own blade to stop the attack this time.

"Give it up," Zhane's voice was almost unrecognizable as it was deep, gravely and sinister. "You're too weak to defeat me nor do you belong here."

"You're the one who's weak," Andros spoke as he struggled for the upper hand against the silver ranger as their weapons were still locked. Just as Andros finished speaking an unseen force tossed the red ranger away from Zhane.

"You'll regret ever saying that," the silver ranger spoke as he walked closer to the other rangers and while he did so the undead army gathered behind him. Andros's team also regrouped behind their leader.

"Andros," Ashley spoke as she grabbed the red ranger's right arm. Another pair of hands gripped Andros's left arm pulled him to his feet. All of the rangers started to back up as Zhane slowly continued to walk toward the rangers.

The silver ranger suddenly stopped and a black mass began appearing around him.

"What's happening?" Cassie asked, she sounded disturbed. Even as the pink ranger spoke the black mass deepened in texture and appeared to take a physical form, which looked much like the undead army around Zhane, only larger in stature.

"It's Psychlosis," Andros answered. "He's-

Before Andros could explain the dark figure swung a massive arm and possibly a weapon around toward the rangers and knocked them all back against the ground.

"Nice of you to go and tick off the locals, Andros," Carlos moaned as the team of rangers worked to get themselves out of the mud they had been forced into.

By the time Andros managed to sit up and look in the silver ranger's direction once again Psychlosis's form was becoming solid. Unlike his army around him the armor he wore was plated silver with out a hint of rust on it, but just like his undead warriors his face and other exposed flesh was crippled, dark and weathered. It was hard to imagine what was keeping the being together in one piece, but in the center of the warrior's chest armor was Zhane's morpher.

Zhane lay on the ground behind the warrior. At first Andros thought his friend was unconscious, but the silver ranger slowly rolled over and looked up at the being that had manifested itself before him. Zhane attempted to get up, but just as he moved to do so a flash of silver swept over him and he allowed himself to fall to the ground as he recoiled with a look of pain on his face. Psychlosis was draining the silver ranger's powers that had to be how the warrior had managed to project himself and how he continued to remain in physical form now.

Metal clanging against metal snapped Andros's attention back to his teammates who were close to him. TJ was already engaged in a battle with three of the ancient warriors, Carlos likewise moved in to lend his teammate a hand in the fight. Andros learned quickly that he was in just as much immediate danger as his two teammates as a warrior took advantage of the red ranger's distraction to land a blow to his right side.

"Andros!" Ashley yelled and was soon at the red ranger's side to help him back to his feet while the pink ranger fired away at the incoming warriors.

"We've got to get Zhane's morpher away from Psychlosis," Andros informed the yellow ranger in a low voice in an attempt to keep the knowledge of his intentions away from the lead ancient warrior.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Ashley questioned just before she was forced to start firing her own weapon at the rangers' attackers.

"Keep them busy," Andros instructed his team. He looked back in Psychlosis's direction to discover that the warrior was nearly standing over him. Before the red ranger had time to react Psychlosis had a powerful hand gripped around his neck. Andros was left gasping for air as the warrior lifted him from off of the ground.

"You should never have come here," Psychlosis boomed before tossing the red ranger aside. Andros forcefully hit a tree before walling to the mushy ground below and he coughed fiercely in an attempt to regain his breath. The red ranger was finally able to look up to see his teammates trying in vain to fight Psychlosis, their efforts were being met and over powered by a massive sword the ancient warrior wielded. Things were not looking good for the rangers and Andros began to lose hope in the rangers' ability to turn the tides of the battle over to their favor.

* * *

"The rangers are engaged in a battle on the planet," Ecliptor informed Astronema when the Dark Fortress had reached its destination.

"We should offer our assistance," Astronema stated and turned toward Ecliptor. "Prepare a team."

"As you wish," Ecliptor said with a bow and walked away from the princess of evil.

* * *

Zhane struggled to pick himself up. He was weakened by his powers being drained, but he had to find a way to help his friends. The silver ranger took a few steps towards his teammates before being forced to collapse against a tree when his energy took a dramatic plunge. Zhane took several deep breaths as he watched his team struggle against their opponents. They were on the losing end of things now and Zhane didn't know how he would ever have a hope of being able to help them, especially when he no longer had his ranger powers.

As he stood watching the battle being waged before him Zhane heard several twigs snap behind him, he turned to see the black, green, and now metallic appearance of Ecliptor.

"Silver ranger," the dark machine spoke.

"Ecliptor," Zhane tried to put as much strength behind his voice as he could. "I should have known you were behind all of this."

"I'm not behind this, but I will take pleasure in being the one to destroy you," Ecliptor replied and held out his sword. The silver ranger had little time to react before the weapon was being swung in his direction. Weakly Zhane dove under the attack and somehow managed to roll across the cold mushy land beneath him.

Ecliptor once prided himself with fighting with honor, but now that he had been reprogrammed Zhane knew he had to be ready for anything. The silver ranger reached for a small tree to help him back up to his feet. Almost instant he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to see a Quantron with a fist lifted high in the air. Zhane's eyes flew open wide and he ducked beneath the punch the Quantron threw at him and then put his weight into tackling the machine. Both of them fell into the mud, but because the Quantron landed first it remained stuck where it lay.

Zhane noticed another pair of metallic feet step next to him and he rolled just in time to miss being hit by a Q-blade, the weapon instead hit the fallen Quantron. Zhane smiled at his accomplishment as he stood up, but his smile was soon wiped from his face as his powers were forcefully drained from him and he once again collapsed to his hands and knees. Gasping for air to relieve his pain Zhane looked up to see that Astronema was standing a good distance away from him. Her mechanical implants looked all the more revolting in the light that was barely being cast on the villainess. Her focus was set on the battle being waged between Psychlosis, his army, the rangers, and now her Quantrons.

Astronema slowly started to grin in determination and began to lift her staff. Her target appeared to be Andros who was the closest ranger to both her and Psychlosis.

"No!" Zhane yelled and mustered what little strength he had left to get up and run towards Astronema. The villainess was pulling back on her weapon and was just about the thrust it forward to fire as the silver ranger put one last effort into catching her in time. Zhane leapt from the ground and was met by a powerful shock-blast to his back he recoiled but continued enough of his forward momentum to plow the villainess over. Astronema's staff still fired. Zhane's heart raced for fear of what the blast had claimed as its target until he heard a roar that lifted above the noise of battle. When the silver ranger had landed on the ground next to the evil princess he painfully sat up and looked in the direction of the fierce battle to see Psychlosis struggling with his current form. Astronema's shot must have hit him in the chest where the Zhane's morpher was implanted!

"You will pay for that," Astronema spoke evenly, catching Zhane's attention. The villainess was not looking directly at the silver ranger however and when Zhane finally realized she was looking at something behind him it was already too late. Zhane felt something hard hit him from behind and then he blacked out.

* * *

"What?" Andros questioned as a bright purple bolt flew over his head to hit Psychlosis in the center of his chest, knocking Zhane's morpher loose in the process. As the morpher fell to the ground Psychlosis roared and took several mighty steps backward as his image faded in and out of existence. Andros didn't hesitate another second. "Now, guys!"

The red ranger had to pick his weapon up off of the ground as he ran for the once powerful ancient warrior where his teammates arrived ahead of him. TJ lead the attack with his Astro Ax with Carlos close behind to land a blow with his Lunar Lance. Cassie and Ashley leapt in behind their two teammates to fire away with their Satellite Stunner and Star Slinger. Finally Andros had his opening, he jumped in the air and performed a flip before straightening out to deliver a powerful blow to Psychlosis's already weakened chest armor. The warrior roared once again and seemed barely able to turn to where the rangers were now standing.

"You won't get away with this," Psychlosis boomed.

"Want to bet?" Andros questioned confidently. "Let's bring them together, guys!"

"Quadro Blaster online!" the blue, black, yellow and pink rangers spoke in unison as Andros completed the transformation of his own weapon and took aim.

"Fire!" all five rangers spoke and together the weapons fired to blast through Psychlosis. The warrior fought to remain in his physical form, but finally he vanished with out a trace. The ancient army surrounding the rangers shriveled up and became dust that was quickly carried off by the wind.

The rangers turned in Astronema's direction then. She looked distraught as she glared at the rangers then finally in a flash she, Ecliptor, and their army of Quantrons disappeared just as the planet's sun began to peek over the horizon.

"Zhane!" Ashley yelled just as Andros saw his friend lying on the ground close to where Astronema had been standing. The rangers ran over to their fallen comrade and knelt beside him. Zhane was lying face down, but with Andros's help the yellow ranger rolled him over gently. Ashley looked up at her teammates and declared while sounding relieved, "He's alive!"

"We'd better get him back to the ship," TJ suggested.

"Looks like Alpha is going to have to do some damage control too," Carlos said from behind the blue ranger. Andros looked up to see the black ranger holding up Zhane's morpher. It had been damaged in the battle, but it wasn't bad.

"Let's get out of here, guys," Andros finally instructed.

* * *

"Hey, Andros," Ashley spoke as she walked into the engine room where the red ranger had been alone working on a console that really didn't need maintenance. She gave Andros a look of concern. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Andros said with out looking up at the yellow ranger.

"I just thought that you would be with Zhane right now," Ashley stated as she stepped closer to the red ranger.

"Zhane's going to be fine," Andros spoke as if his friend was of no concern to him and he continued working. Ashley didn't buy it.

"He'd probably like to see you when he wakes up," Ashley said and placed a hand on the red ranger's back. Andros tensed and placed the panel back on the console he was working on.

"I wouldn't count on that," Andros replied and started to walk away from the yellow ranger, but she followed him.

"Andros, he didn't know what he was doing," Ashley pleaded with the red ranger as they walked out into a corridor. She still didn't know what had happened before the rangers had regrouped after splitting up on the planet. Why Andros and Zhane had gotten separated was a complete mystery to her, but judging off of the things she did know there seemed to have been a rifted created between the two rangers for some reason.

Andros sighed before responding, "I wouldn't be so sure about that, Ashley."

"Andros," Ashley said, this time grabbing the red ranger by the arm to stop him in his tracks. "You know Zhane better than any of us, but I think it was clear he wasn't himself. Whatever happened on that planet can you really hold it against him?"

"I'm not holding anything against him," Andros replied. There was a note of truthfulness behind his voice, but there was obviously still something the red ranger wasn't saying. Ashley let go of Andros then and they continued walking down the corridor.

"I wonder why out of all of us Psychlosis chose Zhane," Ashley spoke more to herself than to the red ranger.

"Probably because he has the most powerful morpher out of the six of us," Andros spoke, but again it sounded like he was holding something back. Ashley decided it was best if she just left the conversation alone at that point. The two turned down another corridor that would lead them to the bridge of the ship, but they didn't get far before they encountered none other than the silver ranger trying his best to walk in the same direction.

"Zhane!" Ashley gasped and ran to the silver ranger's side. "What are you doing out here?"

"I couldn't just lie there," Zhane explained weakly then looked towards Andros. "Not after what happened earlier."

"I'll leave you two alone," Ashley took that moment to escape into the bridge of the ship where the rest of her teammates were hanging out.

* * *

"I'm sorry about losing it back there, Andros," Zhane started to say as soon as the door shut behind the yellow ranger. "I swear I didn't mean a word of what I said."

Andros nodded his acceptance of the apology and offered his friend one of his own, "I'm sorry too."

"It was like," Zhane continued as if purposely ignoring Andros while staring off into the distance. "I could only watch while someone else controlled my actions and what I said."

"That sounds like the sum of what was happening," Andros replied cautiously.

Zhane looked at Andros then and gave a lopsided grin, "How sure were you?"

Andros knew his friend was speaking about the time that he had decided to attack the silver ranger as though he were Psychlosis and he smiled weakly in return. "Do you really want to know?"

"That bad huh?" Zhane said with a near breathless laugh that made him wince.

"It's good to have you back, Zhane," Andros spoke.

"It's good to be back," Zhane said and offered the red ranger a hand. "Thanks, Andros."

Andros eyed his friend's hand wearily. He wasn't sure if he really felt like being thanked after what had happened, but finally he took it and felt relieved that his friend just wanted to move on from here. "Anytime."

* * *

"Zhane!" Cassie said with a smile as the other rangers added their own cheers when the silver ranger and Andros walked onto the bridge of the Astromegaship.

"Alright," Zhane spoke and held up his hands. "I know you guys want to say it so go ahead and say it."

The rangers all exchanged uncertain glances.

"What do you mean, Zhane?" Ashley finally asked.

"What, you guys don't want to rub it in and say we told you so?" Zhane asked with a look of disbelief.

"Now why would we want to do that?" Cassie asked and slapped the silver ranger on the back causing him to wince, clearly in pain.

"It's just good to have you back on our side." TJ added from where he was standing next to Cassie.

"Yeah, good to be back," Zhane said while still wincing and seemingly trying to hold his breath.

"But maybe you will listen to us next time," Carlos added to TJ's statement and laid a hand non-too gently onto the silver ranger's left shoulder, causing Zhane to wince slightly once again.

"Trust me," Zhane spoke while he finally straightened his posture. "I've learned my lesson this time."

The rangers shared a laugh as they were all simply relieved to have lived through the ordeal on the Psychlosis's planet, but little did they know their troubles there were just beginning.

* * *

"Ecliptor," Astronema spoke when her second in command walked into her office. He was the only one she trusted with the information she was about to share.

"You called for me, Princess?" Ecliptor asked with a bow.

"Thanks to Psychlosis I have a plan that will not only destroy the rangers," Astronema said then grinned evilly, "but it will also bring down Darkspecter as well."


End file.
